World Update: Holocaust denier ousted at seminary

BUENOS AIRES – An ultratraditionalist Roman Catholic bishop who has drawn criticism from the Vatican and Jewish groups for denying the extent of the Holocaust has been removed as the head of an Argentine seminary, a Catholic Church official said yesterday.

Pope Benedict XVI angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted the excommunications of Bishop Richard Williamson and three other traditionalists to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the church.

In a statement, the Rev. Christian Bouchacourt, head of the Latin American chapter of the Catholic Society St. Pius X, said Williamson had been relieved as the head of the La Reja seminary on the outskirts of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. Williamson's “statements do not in any way reflect the position of our congregation,” it said.

Reuters

Yemen frees 170 al-Qaeda suspects

SAN'A, Yemen – Yemen has released 170 men it had arrested on suspicion of having ties to al-Qaeda, security officials said yesterday, two weeks after the terror group announced that Yemen had become the base of its activities for the whole Arabian peninsula.

The men were freed Friday and Saturday after signing pledges not to engage in terrorism. The announcement comes as government forces say they are poised to sweep through the northern city of Marib to combat an entrenched al-Qaeda presence.

Associated Press

Roadside bomb kills 2 U.S. soldiers

KABUL – Two American soldiers died in Afghanistan yesterday when a roadside bomb they were trying to defuse exploded, a U.S. spokeswoman said. An Afghan interpreter and a policeman also died.